Device fob circulating seine



P 1929. o. G. HALVORSEN 1,727,974 I DEVICE FOR CIRCULATING BRINE Filed May 25, 1928 fiwen oz A 6 49 fi'flalvaraeia Patented Sept. 10, 1929.

FATENT QFFICE.

OLE G. HALVORSEN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

DEVICE'FOR GIRCULATING BRINE.

Application filed May 25, 1928.

My invention relates to an improved means for circulating brine in refrigerating tanks and particularly in tanks used in making ice. On account of the rapidity with which the brine absorbs heat from the water being frozen, it is important that the brine be etliciently circulated in the tank and cooled at some point in its circulation so that the freezing of the water may proceed efliciently. To that end it is usual to employ partitions in the tank to cause the brine to follow a definite path of circulation among the cans containing the water to be frozen, and in connection with such an arrangement,

' circulating devices of some kind are required to kee p the brine in motion. lleret fore, as far as I am aware, although various types of circulating devices have been proposed, they are relatively undesirable or inefficient, either because of occupying too much space in the tank, or because of moving the brine inei'liciently, or both. it an object of my present invention to construct the brine moving devices so that they occupy a minimum of space in the tank, that they may be supported without the use of special partitions, bulkheads or other devices in the tank, and that the brine will be moved by the devices with a minimum of friction.

More specifically, my invention consists of an elbow hood and propeller contained therein, having a passageway through the elbow making substantially a 90 turn, permitting the upper opening of the hood to be in substantially a horizontal plane, so that the shaft and shaft support for the propeller may extend vertically from the hood and communicate with supporting and driving mechanism located above the tank over the hood, thus reducing the space in the tank occupied by the circulating devices, to that required by the hood itself.

The lower opening of the hood is thus sub stantially in a vertical plane and is made of such a size and shape as to draw the brine from all directions in case the propeller is rotated to suck the brine into and through the hood, or to distribute the brine in all directions and substantially uniformly from the hood in the event the propeller is rotated Serial No. 280,407.

to force or push the brine through the hood and out from said lower opening. To secure the distributed action referred to, and to reduce the size of the propeller construction, I find it advisable to have the area of the lower opening of the hood much larger than the area of the throat of the hood in which the propeller is located, said throat passage extending vertically and being just slightly larger than the external diameter of the propeller.

The throat of the hood is thus necessarily of circular cross section to produce eilective operation on the brine flowing through the hood, and whatever may be the form of the lower opening of the hood, it is important for purposes of my present invention that the change from the cross section of the throat to the size and shape of the lower opening of the hood, shall be continuous and gradual and preferably so that said change shall be progressively increasing through the turn in the elbow hood, imparting a flaring effect to the passageway at the lower opening thereof.

it will be understood that the lower opening of the hood may have any desired shape, for example, circular, elliptical or rectangular depending upon the conditions under which the circulating devices are to work and the shape of the passageway with which the elbow hood is to cooperate.

In this way, the distributing or collecting effect, as the case may be, is more effective than if the elbow passageway increased as to any dimension of its cross section, proportionally to the travel from the throat to the lower opening. The upper opening of the hood is also preferably of larger area than the throat of the hood, and connected with the throat opening by a similarly flared passageway.

I preferably provide a flange on the elbow hood around its lower openings, by which 9 the hood may be mounted 011 a partition of the tank, or upon the cooler where a cooler of the shell type is employed, and since the propeller and operating mechanism may be located above the tank, my construction requires no additional partitions or special supports or bulkheads in the tank.

My invention will be best understood by reference to the accompanying drawings showing a preferred embodiment thereof in which Figure 1 is a transverse vertical sectional view through one end of a refrigerating tank, showing a cooler in side elevation and showing also my circulating devices in cooperative relation with said cooler, this view being taken along the line 1 1 in Figure 7,

Figure 2 is a vertical central sectional view through the elbow hood shown in Figure 1, to an enlarged scale, and shows the propeller in the relation it occupies to the throat of the elbow hood,

Figure 3 is a top view to an enlarged scale of the elbow hood,

Figure 4 is an end elevation to an enlarged scale taken from the left-hand end of Figure 1,

Figure 5 is an end elevation to an enlarged scale of the opposite end of the elbow hood,

Figure 6 is a perspective view to an enlarged scale, of the elbow hood and the propeller located therein, the hood being partially broken away to show the propeller, and

Figure is a diagrammatic plan view to a reduced scale of the re'li'rigerating tank.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

As shown in Figure l, a refrigerating tank is illustrated at 10 which is provided with a longitudinal partition 11, in one end of which a cooler 12 ofthe shell type, is mounted to extend transversely through the partition. The cooler 12 thus furnishes a passageway through one end of the partition 11 tov facilitate circulating the brine through the tank around the other end of the partition 11. to absorb from the brine the heat that may be communicated to it by the refrigerating action. The cooler 12 is provided with a cooler hood 13 to which my elbow hood 1% is secured as indicated, the propeller and its operating mechanism being removed from Figure 7, to more clearly show the relation of my elbow hood to the cooler.

As shown in Figure 1, a framework 15 is mounted above the tank 10 to support a motor 16 with its shaft 17 in vertical position. From the framework 15, a tubular support 18 extends downwardly into the upper end of the elbow hood 1 1 and the shaft 17 extends downwardly through said tube 18 and, as more clearly shown in Figures 2 and 6, has secured to its lower end a propeller 19.

The outer diameter of the propeller 19 is just enough smaller than the diameter of the circular throat 20 of the elbow hood 14:, so

i that the propeller may revolve freely in the hood without danger of striking the hood. From the throat 20 the cross section of the hood increases gradually and progressively towards the lower opening 21 of the hood and in such a manner that the increase will give the elbow passage a flared conformation as the opening 21 is approached. Furthermore, where it is desired that the opening 21 be rectangular, as illustrated in the detail drawings of the hood, the transition from the circular cross section of the throat to the rectangular cross section of the opening 21, is gradual and continuous, so that the brine traveling through the hood in either direction will move smoothly and freely through it without undue retardation of friction without the possibility of producing eddy currents in it, and without obstructions of any kind to its flow.

The flaring construction referred to, effects the distribution of the brine when its direction of flow is outwardly from the open ing 1, to all parts of the passageway receiving the brine and in a substantially uniform manner, and it also effects the drawing of the brine uniformly fron'i all parts of the passageway into the opening 21, when the direction of flow in any particular case is into the hood throu h the opening 21.

The upper opening 22 of the hood is in substantially a horizontal plane, it is of larger cross section than the throat open ing 20 and preferably circular, the opening 22 being connected with the throat opening 20 by a second flared passageway as indicated.

The hood 1% has formed on its lower end around the opening 21, a flange 23 to facilitat securing the hood 1 1 to any desired support, for example, to the cooler hood 13. Since the elbow hood. 14: constitutes the only brine directing means, and the propeller 19 is the sole driving means of the brine, it will at once be seen that no special supports, whether extra partitions, bulkheads or otherwise, are required in the tank to support the circulating devices, and that the location of the motor 16 vertically over the elbow hood l l reduces the space occupied in the tank by the circulating devices, to that required to accommodate the hood 14 itself.

In order to economize room and make the hood and propeller 19 of relatively small size, and to effectively and efficiently move the brine by means of the propeller 19, it is desirable that the diameter of the throat 20 and of the propeller 19 shall be relatively small, and that the rotation of the propeller 19 shall. be relatively rapid. This results in a small size of the elbow hood at its throat portion. Since the opening 21 is of large cross section relatively to the throat opening 20, the velocity of flow of the brine through the opening 21 is small relatively to the.

lill) velocity of its flow through the throat opening 20, and the progressively tapering construct-ion of the elbow passageway insures that the change in velocity of the flow of the brine through the elbow passageway shall be gradual and that therefore there will be a minimum of friction on the brine flowing through the elbow hood. The same is true concerning the passageway between the throat opening 20 and the hood opening 22.

While I have shown my invention in the particular embodiment above described, it will be understood that I do not limit myself to this exact construction, as I may employ equivalents known to the art at the time of the filing of this application without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

V/hat I claim is:

1. In a device of the class described, the combination of an elbow hood having a single continuous passageway therethrough and provided with a circular throat of relatively small area in a substantially horizontal plane, a vertical shaft, and a single propeller of slightly smaller external diameter than said throat and mounted on said shaft for rotation centrally in said throat, said passageway making substantially a right angle turn below said throat and terminating in a lower opening, the area of said passageway increasing continuously below said throat and at first slowly and then more rapidly as said lower opening is approached to l'lare said passageway outwardly.

2. In a device of the class described, the combination of an elbow hood having a single continuous passageway therethrough and provided with a circular throat of relatively small area in a. substantially horizontal plane, a, vertical shaft, and a single propeller of slightly smaller external diameter than said throat and mounted on said shaft for rotation centrally in said throat, said passageway making substantially a right angle turn below said throat and terminating in a lower opening, the area of said passageway increasing continuously be low said throat and at first slowly and then more rapidly as said lower opening is approached to flare said passageway outwardly, said lower opening being of a form differing from the form of said throat, and said passageway changing gradually and continuousl from said throat form to said lower opening form throughout the length of said passageway from said throat to said lower opening.

3. In a device of the class described, the combination of an elbow hood having a single continuous passageway therethrough and provided with a circular throat of relatively small area in a substantially horizontal plane, a vertical shaft, and a single propeller of slightly smaller external diameter than said throatand mounted on said shaft for rotation centrally in said throat, said passageway making substantially a right angle turn below said throat and terminating in a lower opening, the area of said passageway increasing continuously below said throat and at lirst slowly and then more rapidly as said lower opening is approached to flare said passageway outwardly, said lower opening being rectangular, and said passageway changing gradually and continuously from circular cross section to rectangular cross section from said throat to said lower openin In a device of the class described comprising an elbow hood having a single continuous passageway theret-hrough and provided wit-h a circular throat in a substantially horizontal plane to contain a single propeller, said passageway making substantially a right angle turn below said throat and terminating in a lower opening, the area of said passageway increasing continuously below said throat and at first slowly and then more rapidly as said lower opening is approached to flare said passageway outwardly.

5. A device of the class described comprising an elbow hood having a single continuous passageway therethrough and provided with a circular throat in a substantially horizontal plane to contain a single propeller, said passageway making substantially a right angle turn below said throat and terminating in a lower opening, the area of said passageway increasing continuously below said throat and at first slowly and then more rapidly as said lower opening is approached to flare said passageway outwardly, said lower opening being of a form dill'ering from the form of said throat, said passageway changing gradually and continuously from said throat form to said lower opening form throughout the length of said passageway from said throat to said lower opening.

6. A device of the class described comprising an elbow hood having a single continuous passageway therethrough and provided with a circular throat in a substantially horizontal plane to contain a single propeller, said passageway making substantially a right angle turn below said throat and terminating in a lower opening, the area of said passageway increasing continuously below said throat and at first slowly and then more rapidly as said lower opening is approached to flare said passageway outwardly, said lower opening being rectangular, and said passageway changing gradually and continuously from circular cross sect-ion to rectangular cross section from said throat. to said lower opening.

7. In a device of the class described, the

combination of an elbow hood having a sin.- gle continuous passageway therethrough and provided With a circular throat of relatively small area in a substantially horizontal plane, a vertical shaft and a single propeller of slightly smaller external diameter than said throat and mounted on said shaft for rotation centrally in said throat, said passageway making substantially a right angle turn below said throat and terminating in a lower opening, the area of said passageway increasing continuously below said throat and at first slowly and then more rapidly as said lower opening is approached to flare said passageway outwardly, said passage being also flared above said throat.

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 23rd day of May, A. D. 1928.

OLE G. HALVORSEN. 

